PM wanted me to work with him but I refused: Pawar

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed that they "work together" during the recent turmoil in Maharashtra, but he refused the offer.

Pawar made the disclosure in an interview with Marathi news channel ABP Majha.

The NCP chief said that he had told Modi that he has good relations with him, but their "working together was not possible".

As per media reports, Pawar's daughter and Baramati MP Supriya Sule was offered a ministerial berth in the Union Cabinet, and there was even speculation that he was offered the President's post.

After the Shiv Sena split from its long-time ally BJP over the issue of a rotational Chief Minister, the Sena, Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had started discussions on a common minimum programme. But in the midst of this, Pawar had set off speculation by meeting the Prime Minister.

However, it was Pawar who took the initiative for the Sena-NCP-Congress government, and even convinced an initially-reluctant Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi to give her consent.